Little Lilly beats the odds

An Essex dad is preparing to run in aid of a children’s charity after his daughter survived a serious medical condition.

Lilly Blackwell was just three months old when she began to seem unwell.

Nick Blackwell and Clare Hagger took their little girl to see their GP after she developed flu-like symptoms and were told that she had contracted a virus.

But as Lilly’s condition worsened over the following weeks, they demanded to see a specialist paediatric doctor.

Experts at Colchester General Hospital soon identified that something was amiss and transferred her to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

After early concerns that she might have leukaemia, Lilly went on to be diagnosed with Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis, a condition which causes the immune system to produce too many white blood cells, destroying other blood cells and causing damage to body tissue and organs such as the bone marrow and the brain.

While Lilly is currently being treated with chemotherapy, her doctors are slowly reducing her drug levels in the hope that she will soon be able to manage without them.

Nick Blackwell will be taking part in the BUPA 10k run in London on May 25 along with his brother, Adam, sister, Louise and her partner Scott Williams. The money they raise will go to Acorn House, which provides accommodation for the families of children staying in Addenbrookes.